Resources Against the Day

Like most of Pynchon’s “histories”, Against the Day [AtD] is better with friends. Here are some of the resources that helped me find my way.

There are quite a few reading guides:

• The Pynchon Wiki: I particularly appreciate the page-by-page the spoiler-free annotations
• Mapping the Zone: A podcast which began covering AtD in 2024. They should wrap some time in 2026.
• Otolithium’s Reading Guide: A PDF with one-pagers for each chapter aiming to answer “where am I?”
• The Chumps of Choice: “A Congenial Spot for the Discussion of Against the Day, by Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, Cornell ‘59, and Any Other Damned Thing That Comes Into Our Heads”

AtD has also received Pynchonite analysis. Here’s a small selection on mathematical symbolism:

• Pynchon | Germany - A Multiplicity of Critical Eigenvalues
• History, Utopia and Transcendence in the Space-Time of Against the Day
• An Automorphic Reading of Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day

I’m drawn to the alternate history of science AtD. Some more non-fiction paths it sent me down:

• Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikolai Tesla
• Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics

I’ll continue to add bits of interest as they come up..